I am new here but pretty experienced Linux user. I have an old iMac (6,1) (Intel Core 2 Duo) which became useless because the OS is no longer updated. So I decided to revive it using MX-Linux. Note: I removed completely the Mac OS.
The 64-bit MX-Linux (version 17.1) live usb worked fine, so I decided to install the 64-bit version. Unfortunately, the fresh installed version will not boot after installation. The problem, I believe, is that this particular model has a 32-bit EFI. So, I tried the 32-bit MX-Linux and this boots fine after installation. Actually, I am writing this using the 32-bit version which booted from the hard disk.
There must be a way though to boot the 64-bit version from the hard disk because it boots without issue from the live usb drive. Any idea how I could do that? Is it possible to follow the same boot procedure as that from the live usb drive when booting from the hard drive?
Please note also that I tried to correct boot issue using the 'Boot repair' tool from MX tools and it did not work.

dolphin_oracle wrote:from the inxi data, it looks like you have booted the 32 bit version in legacy-bios mode, but the 64 bit version in UEFI mode. So I'm not sure UEFI is the issue here.

The 32 bit version booted from hard disk without ESP (grub is on MBR). The 64-bit was booted using the USB dirve in UEFI mode.
When installling the 64-bit version I get three options about grub: MBR, root and ESP (default is ESP) I tried them all. Installation proceeds noramally in all cases but booting is unsuccessful with all of them.

Good news. I finally mamaged to boot an 64-bit installation by changing the installation procedure. I did this by doing the following:

I removed all existing partitions (including the ESP) and created only two new primary partitions: root and swap. The first partition must be the root partition and must have the BOOT flag set.

When prompted where to install grub, I chose MBR (the ESP optionn was not selectable). Note: if the ESP is present, the installation will not boot even when I choose MBR.

My previous attemts failed either because the ESP was present or because I forgot to set the BOOT flag in the root partition.

Note for future versions: The behaviour of the installer could be considered buggy because when choosing to use the whole disk and do automatic partitioning, the ESP is always created and is the default option for the grub installation. This default behaviour was wrong in my case.

Many thanks for this nice distro

Andreas

Last edited by ankar71 on Mon Apr 16, 2018 4:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ankar71 wrote:
Note for future versions: The behaviour of the installer could be considered buggy because when choosing to use the whole disk and do automatic partitioning, the ESP is always created and is the default option for the grub installation. This default behaviour was wrong in my case.

I'm glad you got things working.

Your supposition is only partially correct. The autoinstaller will always create and ESP partition when the liveUSB is booted in UEFI mode. If you boot in legacy-bios mode, then the ESP is skipped. I have no idea if an apple imac can be forced to boot legacy first, but obviously it can boot legacy since you got it going. Good on ya!